EXCLUSIVE: A contestant on The Jury has revealed just how difficult it was for the group to reach a verdict in the latest episode
The Jury star shared the extraordinary difficulty of reaching a verdict(Image: Channel 4)
A man who appeared on The Jury has opened up on ‘most difficult’ deliberation yet.
The contestant took part in the Channel 4 hit show and explained the extraordinary difficulty of reaching a verdict as the gripping series heads towards its final episode.
James, one of the members of the specially assembled jury, admitted the group faced an incredibly challenging time when they retired to deliberate over the case.
Speaking to The Daily Mirror about the experience, he said it was “probably one of the most challenging deliberations and claimed it was the most difficult the jurors had faced across the series so far.
James added, “I know for a fact out of 2 seasons previously, it was probably the most difficult of deliberations so far, and I suppose we really, really struggled to come to a decision.”
His comments come as The Jury reached the crucial stage of its four-part run, with the final episode airing on Channel 4 tonight (September 9).
The series has placed ordinary members of the public in the extraordinary position of having to decide the fate of two brothers accused of killing their stepfather.
Unlike a conventional documentary, the programme recreates a real-life murder trial using actors, with the jurors watching the evidence and arguments before being asked to reach their own verdict.
In the real case, the brothers were accused of killing their stepfather after years of alleged abuse and violence within the family home.
The Channel 4 series changed the defendants’ names, with the teenage brothers referred to as Daniel and his older brother as Luke.
The case presented the jurors with a particularly difficult question: could the brothers’ age, background, and claims of abuse alter how responsibility for the killing should be judged?
Reaching a conclusion was far from straightforward, and for James, it was even more difficult as he was voted as the jury’s foreperson.
He recalled the moment he was left feeling “really disrespected” when he was called out by a fellow juror. He said, “There was a moment where I went around all the jury members.
“I went around individually, and I asked people for their final decision, and when it came to be, quite literally, the last person to go, I was really thinking about what I was saying. And then another member of the jury, Phil, called me out, basically said, ‘Come on mate, we’ve not got all day, get a move on’”.
James added: “I just felt really disrespected because I had been voted in as the foreperson, so I had a responsibility to moderate a conversation, a really serious one of that, but also have my say at the same time.”
You can stream the new season of The Jury on Channel 4